Men's Hockey Picked Second In ECAC East Coaches Poll

Oct 31, 2013

CENTERVILLE, Mass.—#9/12 UMass Boston Men's Hockey earned their highest preseason projection ever under eighth-year head coach Peter Belisle in the ECAC East Men's Hockey Preseason Coaches Poll, when the Beacons were tabbed to finish in second, in the poll released Tuesday afternoon.

The Beacons earned a total of 88 votes out of 100, to finish just five points behind Norwich University which has won 15 consecutive ECAC East Regular Season Titles.

Babson College was picked third (86 points) in the poll, after earning their third ECAC East Tournament title in the past decade.

Norwich received six of the 10 first-place votes, while UMass Boston received their first three first-place votes in program history. Babson College earned the 10th and final first-place tally. The Beacons #9 ranking in the D3Hockey.com Top-15 Poll and #12 ranking in the USCHO.com Poll mark the first time in program-history UMass Boston has been ranked to begin a season.

Castleton State College (67), Skidmore College (57) and St. Anselm College (50) made up the middle of the Coaches Poll, while New England College (38), the University of Southern Maine (26), the University of New England (25) and St. Michael's College (21) rounded out the bottom.

UMass Boston is coming off their best season in over three decades, after finishing the 2012-13 season with a 19-6-1 record.

ECAC East Coach of the Year Peter Belisle returns 17 players from last year's team which finished second in the ECAC East in the regular season behind an 11-5-2 showing against league foes.

The Beacons return four of their six All-League selections, including senior captain Travis Daniel (North Brunswick, N.J.) and ECAC East Rookie of the Year Peter MacIntyre (Norfolk, Mass.).

Daniel led the conference in assists and points last year with 28 assists and 40 points, while MacIntyre finished second in Division III amongst first-year skaters with his 19 goals and 32 total points.

UMass Boston opens their season Saturday November 2 when they travel to UMass Dartmouth for a 4:30 p.m. start.